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Jul 09
Golden Gate Park
Family
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Took the bus to Golden Gate Park today, where we visited the de Young Museum, The Academy of Sciences and the Japanese Tea Garden. We then took the bus back to the hotel stopping briefly at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
At the de Young we saw a visiting exhibition called “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” which was very impressive albeit a little disappointing because the burial sarcophagus was not on display.
We then looked at the Academy of Sciences which was new and very interesting. Had some very impressive aquariums and an indoor rainforest. Again I was a little disappointed as the emphasis was on natural science rather than physics, etc.
We all enjoyed the Japanese Tea Gardens which were wonderfully presented.
For dinner we went to the Fog City Dinner which was really nice.
Jul 08
San Francisco
Family
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First full day in San Francisco.
We rode the famous cable car over Nobb Hill to Fisherman’s Wharf where we wandered around for a couple of hours, before heading to downtown where Julie and Rachel shopped whilst Ian and I watched.
Ate pizza for dinner in Uncle Vito’s and had an early night.
Jul 07
Arrived in SF today. Got the BART up to the city and a taxi to our hotel – the Fairmont on the top of Nobb Hill. We are in a room on the 23rd floor of the hotel’s tower block and have fantastic views across the city.
Hotel is very nice, with friendly staff and lots of history. Built just before the 1906 earthquake, it has been one of the city’s top hotels ever since. It was the site of the drafting of the UN Charter in 1945 and has been used in many films – Vertigo, The Rock, Towering Inferno and Dirty Harry to mention a few. It is also the Hotel featured in Arthur Hailey’s Hotel TV series in the late ’80s.
All had an early night to start getting over jet lag.
